hello! hi! a massive long time no see! so long you may be seeing this notification and going 'holy shit i fucking forgot abt this one'.

this update is a bit different in that it's the end of this fic. i have no intentions to continue this fic. that isn't to say i'm 100% never going to, but i'd be surprised if i ever did.

while my love of the fandom is still strong. i've really outgrown this writing and narrative style. i consider this (along with my others) a pretty cute journal into how i've developed as a writer where progress in my development is clear.

obviously this fic isn't as long as i hoped it would be (ie: completed) even though i was quite excited for where i wanted it to go.

and for that reason, i've summarised my intentions for how it WOULD have gone, as well as included any other details i'd already made, in this chapter! some kind of closure for this story, and for many of you who have been so kind and supported it.

the main thing i was hoping to explore in this fic, is the conflict of how vigilantes are treated in ninjago. this was BEFORE season 16, where that becomes a (really random) plot point, and they'd never really addressed it in the show at the time wrote this. and it was a SUPER interesting concept to me.

even more interesting, was that whole idea of y/n growing to resent the ninja as people who impose upon her relationship with her mother, while lloyd grows to resent the royal family for imposing on his job. that conflict is really our driving factor. the next few planned scenes were going to start diving into passive aggressive conversations as they realise they have very differing opinions on this, but obviously, can't blatantly say 'well i'm the green ninja'. I had a couple scenes like:

---

Lloyd blinked. "Well I'm sure the ninja are doing their best, don't you?"

"Wouldn't their best be keeping out of trouble for once?"

"She's keeping them from helping people! These laws only make trouble!"

---

etc. etc. back and forth back and forth until they're super heated but they don't know why the other is heated because they don't understand that they are both very emotionally close to this.

but at the same time they learn to develop from this OUTSIDE of their respective titles and identities, which is a really big thing for both of them, and why the relationship works so well. they can be anonymous and learn each other for who they are. from there you see the relationship develop into a point where they both have feelings. eventually lloyd realises this, and equates it to how he felt with harumi, which scares the shit out of him and causes him to withdraw, pretty much entirely, from y/n.

i'd planned for a big brother kind of relationship between y/n and kai (obviously they didn't know each other's identities either) with a couple scenes like this:

---

I ran a hand through my hair, only then becoming aware of my disheveled appearance. Even so, I couldn't bring myself to care. At the moment, I was more concerned with getting answers.

"What's going on Kai? Why won't he talk to me?"

Kai sighed glancing from side to side in a strange manner, clearly tossing up something in his own mental debate. I almost asked him what was going on in his mind too. "Y/n," he started and my eyes widened at his tone. It was serious. Serious scared me.

God, I should have thought before getting myself into this mess.

"I wish I knew more too. But- he's stopped talking to me. I don't know how to reach him anymore. Ever since- he changed and I haven't seen who i thought was him since."

Ever since?

Kai let out a breath, heavy with thought and emotion I could see he was trying to mask. I waited patiently, understanding that this was hard on all of us. "He wants to love you, he really does. I know that much."

My heart swelled slightly.

"It's just- his head, his past, it won't let him. Not yet." Kai looked at me with wide, sympathetic eyes. "Give him time Y/n, and build that trust. He'll come to you eventually, I know he will."

For whatever reason, I felt my heart grow heavy and eyes threatened to spill tears. This was certainly an emotional mess, but, if anything, I had gained a big brother. Kai enveloped me in a warm hug and though I did my best, I couldn't help but shake with exhaustion. I was tired and really, very much in love. And what a dangerous mix that was.

Eventually, I stepped back with a watery smile. "Thanks Kai."

"Anytime, spitfire," he quipped back.

---

and THEN, when their relationship is still kind of rocky, y/n and lloyd end up in a massive confrontation that unfortunately also happens to be where advisor finds y/n and refers to her as 'princess'. lloyd pretty instantly connects the dots, and that just obliterates any trust they had in each other (because fair enough).

this coincides with the other plot (B-plot, if you will) i was running here. following garmadon's disappearance lloyd has been going out on searches for his father, trying to find the man. again, at the time of writing this we didn't have the conclusion to the show where we know where garmadon is, and the like. so i was doing my own thing completely.

i really liked the idea of the conflict between garmadon being made of pure evil, and due to the nature of his summon in season 9, being UNABLE to have good. but also he had this kind of want anyway to do good. and this is a massive issue for him, where being good goes against his nature and he doesn't know HOW to struggle against that.

lloyd continues to seek him out, and eventually finds him. this only worsens garmadon's issue as he knows he should be good for his son, but doesn't know how. i had planned a big emotional scene where lloyd essentially breaks down, asking for his father, and garmadon being unable to be that, because the guy who was summoned literally is not that person. kind of along the lines of the big prison fight between lloyd and garmadon in season nine, which is one of my favourite scenes EVER in ninjago.

from there, this conflict starts splitting the reality of garmadon's existence as he tries to force down the evil and ignore it. in complete honesty, i was completely adopting the plot of frozen here, with garm as our elsa. this build up of evil energy is BOUND to cause an explosion of destruction as eventually, he can't handle the nature of his own existence and lloyd is unknowingly making things worse as garmadon TRIES to help his son, but physically cannot, and instead only ends up bringing a mini end of the world.

this leads to lloyd having to run back and warn everyone of the emergency. the ninja, who are all in hiding by this point, are like wtf is going on??? and lloyd is like hey guys long story short the city is going to explode we need to get OUT. and then his next thought is, oh shit y/n. there was a major argument where lloyd is like 'hey i have to go to the royal family' and the others are all 'wtf do you mean the royal family?? they hate us?? they'll lock you up on sight??' but lloyd is that 'i have to try'. very melodramatic and all good fanfiction stuff, as far as i'm concerned.

this is pretty much where the little excerpt in the book notes comes in, as lloyd is begging y/n to leave and forget anything they had because it will only be more destructive for the both of them.

---

His eyes turned upward, connecting with mine. Just seeing him- so broken. It hurt. "Please," he pleaded. "Forget me. Forget us. Forget this," he gestured to the chaos that surrounded us. The active destruction of our home. Both of us trying to protect it. We just didn't know how. It hurt.

But no matter how hard he begged, I couldn't forget him. I wouldn't forget this. Never. Not after everything.

"I can't-"

"Why not?" He shot back, eyes wide with fear. He was so scared, I just wish I knew what of.

"Because- Don't you understand?! Because I love you!" I cried out.

He almost stopped completely. He blinked slowly, taking in the words. "W-what?"

---

we love a dramatic untimely 'i love you' moment.

long story short the city explodes but they do manage to evacuate a lot of people (it's fucking ninjago, shit like this happens all the goddamn time there are systems in place at this point). the royal family work together with the ninja in one classic ninjago we work together! never quit! to save the day! still, things are destroyed and y/n with lloyd are on rocky fucking territory. but in their cooperation it gave that bit of hope, where the Empress thanks the ninja and recognises the good they do. it all wraps up in a neat little bow. y/n reconnects with her mum, starts connecting with the ninja, so on and so forth.

---

My feet swung over the edge of the building's remains, swaying back and forth gently above what was left of the land. My eyes surveyed the shattered world, chaos having torn through with no mercy, no consideration for the pain it had caused. The remains of buildings barely stood as they became no more than rubble, glass and broken concrete, bent steel and burnt wood. Cars were crushed and the road crumbled to pieces. My heart ached for the city I had grown to love.

This felt like no victory.

I sighed as I brought my legs up, curling them into my equally broken body. I was tired, so very tired.

A hand found my shoulder quite suddenly, and if I wasn't already numb to it all, I might have jumped. Only a ninja could move so quietly.

I turned slightly, just enough to see the blonde of the hair I had grown to adore. It's familiarity warmed me. That was until I realised how little I actually understood the owner, how much I didn't know about him. I was tempted to shrug Lloyd's hand off, but didn't as he squeezed assuringly. I let myself have this moment.

"It's all gone," I whispered.

Lloyd sat down beside me, lowering his legs so that they could swing as mine did. His hand moved to meet mine, rubbing circles into the back of my hand while he considered the destruction in front of us. "I know," was all he said, defeated acceptance weaving its way into his exhausted voice.

I forced myself to look him in the eyes, scared but similarly comforted to see that beautiful, bright green looking back at me. "What now?" I wasn't asking about the city, however. The way my throat felt thick and words shook were entirely telling of such. And the eyes that held mine understood that. We knew so little about each other, entire lives concealed for reasons the other were yet to understand.

Lloyd's face faded into that of brokenness just as I knew mine already was. He felt it the way I did. Disappointment in us, in what we had become. So I was surprised when he answered. "We rebuild."

Somehow, I knew he wasn't referring to the buildings that lay in ruins.

I also knew that he could be right.

---

and that is about where this fic ends. i was probably gonna do an epilogue, with some big press statement where the empress rescinds her previous statements about the ninja and they form some kind of royal guard-ish cooperative where the ninja are reinstated. very classic movie ending. it wasn't going to be too long a fic, but i was quite looking forward to that whole garmadon plot and the like. not enough to actually write it, it's written in my head at least, but those were the ideas.

i have no idea if this summary actually makes sense or if it's all one big brain dump of ideas i conceived the better part of three years ago, but i hope it gives this fic some kind of ending. let me know if you have any questions, i'd be happy to respond to them.

either way, i thank you for the love and support! i really enjoyed writing this fic as i did, and it still brightens my day seeing people comment and tell me they enjoy my writing (even if to me, now, it's a bit cringeworthy and no longer something i am as invested in).

so that's it!

much love and thanks,
harper.